The present invention relates generally to round balers utilized for making a cylindrical bale of crop material and, more particularly, to a net dispensing device for selectively introducing netting material into the round baler's bale forming mechanism so that the finished bale can be wrapped with an outer layer of netting.
Net dispensing mechanisms for use in conjunction with round balers to wrap the exterior of a finished round bale with a layer of netting material is a relatively recent feature being incorporated into round balers. One such net dispensing device can be found on the Claas Model Rollant 44 round baler which utilizes a tray to physically hold a roll of netting material, the netting material being fed between a driven resilient feed roller and a rigid pinch roller by which means the netting can be fed into the bale chamber of the round baler for wrapping around a completed round bale therewithin. A more detailed description of this net dispensing device can be found with reference to the detailed description of FIG. 9 (prior art) below.
The aforementioned Claas round baler utilizes a pivoted braking device through which the netting material is threaded to backwrap the netting material and increase the tension thereon when cutting thereof is desired. The Claas round baler then utilizes a swinging knife mounted on a pivot arm to impart a relatively high amount of impact energy into the netting material to cause a severing thereof when the desired amount of netting material has been applied to the completed cylindrical bale. It has been found desirable to provide an interacting driving and cutting mechanism for applying the netting material to the completed cylindrical bale without providing additional mechanism through which the netting material must be threaded and for severing the netting material without imparting energy into the netting material to affect the severing thereof.